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Expedition 1
Expedition 1, also known as Expedition One, was the first crew to live aboard the International Space Station, arriving November 2, 2000, and starting 25 years of continuous human presence.
Expedition 74
Expedition 74 was the 74th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station, from December 2025 to July 2026, commanded by Michael Fincke and then Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.
Expedition 75
Expedition 75 is the 75th long-duration crew mission to the International Space Station, a roughly eight-month increment commanded by cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov that began on July 26, 2026.
Exploration of Jupiter
The exploration of Jupiter is the study of the planet and its moons by spacecraft, beginning with Pioneer 10's 1973 flyby and continuing today with NASA's Juno orbiter.
Exploration of Mars
Exploration of Mars, also called Martian exploration, is the robotic and, prospectively, human investigation of the planet by spacecraft, led by NASA since the Mariner flybys of the 1960s.
Exploration of the Moon
The exploration of the Moon, also known as Moon exploration, is the study of Earth's natural satellite by robotic spacecraft and crewed missions, ongoing since 1959.
Explorer (Rocket Lab)
Explorer is Rocket Lab's configurable interplanetary spacecraft platform for missions to Mars, Venus, the Moon, and deep space, with flight heritage from NASA's 2022 CAPSTONE lunar mission.
Explorer 1
Explorer 1 was the first successful United States satellite, launched January 31, 1958 from Cape Canaveral; its cosmic ray instrument led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts.
Explorer program
The Explorer program is NASA's longest-running series of scientific spacecraft, launched with Explorer 1 in 1958; more than 70 missions have flown under its name.
Explorers Program
The Explorers Program, also called Project Explorer, is a NASA series of small, low-cost scientific spacecraft begun with Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, in 1958.
Extravehicular activity
Extravehicular activity, or spacewalk, is work by a pressure-suited astronaut outside a spacecraft, first performed by Alexei Leonov in 1965 and central to building the International Space Station.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit
The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is NASA's two-piece spacesuit for spacewalks outside the Space Shuttle and ISS, providing up to 7 hours of oxygen since 1983.
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer
The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) was a NASA satellite launched in 1992 that made the first all-sky survey at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, cataloging 801 sources, and operated until 2001.
Falcon 1
Falcon 1 was SpaceX's first rocket, a two-stage launcher flown five times from Omelek Island in 2006 to 2009, reaching orbit on its fourth flight.
Falcon 9
Falcon 9, also called SpaceX Falcon 9, is a two-stage rocket built by SpaceX that lands and reuses its booster, first flying in June 2010.
Falcon 9 Block 5
Falcon 9 Block 5, also known as Falcon 9 Full Thrust Block 5, is the final version of SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket, first flown in May 2018.
Falcon 9 Full Thrust
Falcon 9 Full Thrust, also called Falcon 9 v1.2, is a SpaceX rocket whose 2015 maiden flight achieved the first landing of an orbital rocket's first stage.
Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy, also known as SpaceX Falcon Heavy, is a heavy-lift orbital rocket built by SpaceX from three Falcon 9 cores, first flown in 2018.
Fanhui Shi Weixing
Fanhui Shi Weixing (FSW), Chinese for "Recoverable Satellite," is a series of Chinese film-return reconnaissance satellites built by the China Academy of Space Technology, first successfully launched in 1975 and flown through 2005.
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) was a NASA space telescope launched in 1999 that obtained high-resolution far-ultraviolet spectra of stars and galaxies, operating until 2007.
FDIR
FDIR (Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery) is the onboard or ground function in spacecraft and aircraft that detects faults, isolates their cause, and reconfigures systems so the mission continues safely.
Félicette
Félicette was a black-and-white cat who became the first cat launched into space, flying a French suborbital mission from Algeria on 18 October 1963 and returning alive.
Fengyun
Fengyun (风云, meaning wind and cloud) is a family of Chinese weather satellites run by the China Meteorological Administration, with 23 satellites launched since 1988.
Field-emission electric propulsion
Field-emission electric propulsion (FEEP) is an electrostatic ion thruster that extracts ions from a liquid metal propellant, delivering finely adjustable micronewton thrust for drag-free spacecraft and precision attitude control.
Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost
Blue Ghost is a family of robotic lunar landers built by Firefly Aerospace under NASA's CLPS program; its first mission landed 10 instruments on the Moon in 2025.
First satellites by country
First satellites by country lists each nation's first artificial satellite, from the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 in 1957 through China's Dong Fang Hong 1 in 1970.
Fission-fragment rocket
The fission-fragment rocket is a proposed spacecraft propulsion concept, first described by George Chapline in the late 1980s, that uses fission fragments directly as exhaust.
Fixed-satellite service
The fixed-satellite service (FSS) is a radiocommunication service between earth stations at fixed positions, using one or more satellites, defined by the ITU Radio Regulations.
FlatSat
A FlatSat is an electrical model of a satellite with its subsystems laid out side by side on a workbench, giving engineers direct access to buses and components.
Flight controller
A flight controller is a trained specialist who monitors and commands a spacecraft's systems from the ground; NASA flight controllers at Johnson Space Center in Houston support crewed missions from launch through landing.